Canon Pixma MG6220 Review and Ratings

Editors’ Rating:

Our Verdict:
This all-in-one inkjet has superb print quality, reasonable speed, and some nice extras. Its high ink costs, however, make it better for offices that don't print a lot. Read More…

What We Liked…

Excellent print quality, via six-color ink system

Prints on discs

Includes Wi-Fi interface, automatic duplexer

What We Didn’t…

Higher-than-average ink costs

Wi-Fi setup poorly documented

Canon Pixma MG6220 Review

By David English, reviewed October 12, 2011

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If you design and manufacture printers, how do you improve your consumer inkjet models year after year, generation after generation? When you've hit something of a printer plateau like we have in 2011, it's a challenge. Output resolution and print longevity have stabilized, and the number of functions for all-in-one (AIO) printers has hit its practical maximum, in many makers' product families.

Where we're seeing refinements in the most recent models are in the design details and ancillary features: better displays, a bit more speed, and the addition of disc printing. Most printers' LCD control panels could use improvement, and a faster print engine is always welcome. Plus, printing directly onto CD, DVD, and Blu-ray discs, once a seldom-seen feature in inexpensive printers, is starting to catch on. What we're seeing today is printer makers refining what they already offer and extending their new models outward with a handful of innovations.

The Canon Pixma MG6220 could model as the poster child for these types of enhancements. (It would print the poster pretty darn well, too.) The high-resolution LCD on this printer, though just 3 inches diagonal, is one of the brightest, most colorful, and detailed printer displays that we’ve seen. The printed output quality is also among the best we’ve seen in a low-cost inkjet printer. That’s mainly due to Canon's six-color ink system, which includes a dedicated gray-ink cartridge, a dye-based black ink for photos, and a pigment-based black ink for text.

Throw in disc printing, Wi-Fi connectivity, and two-sided (duplex) printing, and you have a very able photo-oriented AIO printer. The only major downside we observed in our tests of the Pixma MG6220 is the per-page cost of its ink cartridges, which is higher than on similar printers. If you're willing to spend a bit extra for quality, though, this printer and its output won't disappoint.

Design

On the outside, the Pixma MG6220 resembles previous generations of Pixma printers. The black-and-metallic styling of earlier models is now almost all black, with less gray-metallic edging than in its predecessors. It gives the Pixma MG6220 a sleek, high-tech look.

Another reason for that streamlined look: Unlike on many competing models, the paper-input cassette disappears when you close up the printer. It doesn’t stick out the front. If a printer’s desktop eye appeal is especially important to you, the Pixma MG6220 should be at—or near—the top of your list.

At 6.9x14.5x18.5 inches, the Pixma MG6220 is an easy fit for just about any desk.

The printer feels just as solid as it looks handsome. At 20.1 pounds, the Pixma MG6220 has the heft of a well-constructed printer, unlike some inkjets that feel like hollow plastic boxes. The document-cover and platen-glass assembly makes a solid thump when you close it. The only part of the printer we found a bit insubstantial was the slide-out paper cassette.

The media handling is otherwise well-executed. As we’ve seen with other Pixma models, if the paper-output tray up front is closed, it pops open automatically when you start to print or copy. However, you need to pull out an extension on the output tray by hand if you’re using legal-size paper. (Otherwise, the printed paper will end up on the floor.)

Other types of media are ably provided for. A rear tray lets you load photo paper and envelopes without evacuating the paper tray of regular sheets. Plus, a separate caddy comes in the box, for loading inkjet-printable CD, DVD, or Blu-ray discs. You insert the disc caddy (called the "Printable Disc Tray") into the front of the printer, in an opening just above the paper-output area.

Controls & Interface

In keeping with the hidden-until-needed design of the rest of the cabinet, the Pixma MG6220's 3-inch LCD screen lies flush with the printer until you press a button to release it. You can then tilt it forward, within a range of roughly 80 degrees. Canon couldn’t provide us with the pixel resolution for the screen, but our eyes tell us it's good enough. The screen is bright and detailed, with rich colors, and though it's not big, it's easy to read.

Unlike some competing models' screens, this LCD isn’t touch-sensitive. You use a five-point directional pad located below the screen to navigate its options. Positioned between the screen and this navigation pad are three selection buttons that you use for selecting menu choices. Most of the time, you'll see menu-choice icons on the screen arranged in a row of three across, matching the three selection buttons.

The individual control buttons are illuminated only as needed. This is the configuration that illuminates when you copy a document.

You don't see most of the control panel's other buttons, hidden behind its black surface, until you need them. When the time comes to use them, they light up from below. The buttons and pad mentioned previously light up when you access the menu system. Several others, located on either side of the navigation array, light up under certain conditions. Those are Home, Back, Black, Color, plus, minus, and Stop.

As you might guess, the Home button returns you to the top of the menu system, and the Back button brings you up one level in the hierarchy. The Black and Color buttons light up when scanning or copying, so you can specify the output type. The "+" and "–" buttons appear when you need to select the number of copies to print or reproduce. And the Stop button cancels any print, copy, or scan job. Also located below the navigation array are lights that indicate when the printer is powered on, out of paper or ink, or connected over a Wi-Fi network.

We like the overall panel design. The hidden buttons not only contribute to the minimal feel, but they are also preferable to having fewer physical buttons with confusing multiple functions, like on some other printers. This system is easier to use, because you see only the buttons that are needed for a given function, labeled appropriately when the time is right.

The menu system is structured around scrollable rows of icons that you select using the three buttons directly below the screen. The icons are nicely detailed and easy to distinguish from one another.

Setup

As with previous Pixma models, the LCD on the Pixma MG6220 steps you through the process of installing the ink cartridges. That may sound like a small thing, but it’s a nice feature for someone who hasn’t set up a new printer on his or her own before. In the box, a well-done Getting Started fold-out sheet covers more of the basics, step-by-step.

Installing the ink is mostly foolproof. The ink cartridges are color-coded, and their slots light up when you insert each one. You can, in theory, place the wrong colors in the wrong slots, but you'll get a warning. We tried inserting our test unit's tanks into random slots to see what would happen. After closing the cover, the printer pinged us about our "mistake," and lights flashed beside each problem cartridge to signal which ones needed swapping around.

That was easily solved, but closing the actual cover was trickier than we expected. We couldn’t find a button or lever that would free up the stiff support arms holding it open. We were perplexed until we discovered that you simply have to use a bit more force than seemed comfortable. (Push enough, and the cover will unstick itself.) It’s a good design, but it's disconcerting at first. The need for extra pressure isn’t obvious from the cover’s hinges or support arms, and the Getting Started sheet doesn't mention it.

With our test machine, once we muscled the cover closed (with the ink cartridges in their proper places), the printer took about four minutes to clean the printhead. It started the process automatically. We were then asked to place a sheet of paper in the rear tray so the printer could align the printhead. That took an additional five minutes.

We then moved on to the actual connection of the printer to our wireless network. The software installation process only mentions the wired USB and Ethernet connections, ignoring this model's built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking. If you intend to use Wi-Fi, you will need to set it up yourself using the onboard menu system. You could easily overlook this feature, as it’s mentioned only in passing in the Getting Started guide, and Canon's onscreen manual doesn’t give it a prominent position in the table of contents.

For the record, you scroll down to the Setup entry within the menu system, then select Wireless LAN Setup. From there, you can have the printer search for available wireless access points. Alternatively, if you’re hiding your network’s SSID, you can manually input the network name and password. The Pixma MG6220 also supports installation via Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), which lets you send the login information directly to the printer from your Wi-Fi router. If your router supports this, you can use it to save some time.

Paper Handling

The paper-input scheme on the Pixma MG6220 is basic. Plain paper goes in the front cassette, while photo paper and envelopes go in the rear tray. The only exception: If the plain paper is a size other than A4, B5, A5, or letter, you place it in the rear tray, not the front cassette. The front cassette and the rear tray each accept up to 150 sheets of plain paper at a time, and the paper-output tray has a matching 150-sheet capacity.

The rear tray, in addition to accepting paper of less common sizes, is where you'd put stock of other thicknesses. This tray can handle 10 sheets of photo paper, 10 envelopes, or a single sheet of fine art (“photo rag”) paper at a time. The fact that this tray can take (in most cases) more than a single sheet of a second kind of stock is handy. And as we mentioned earlier, the inclusion of an automatic-duplexing feature is another nice touch for small offices that need to print double-sided sheets. Plus, we experienced no paper jams or misprints while testing this model, feeding from either input tray.

Prints eject from the front of the body into the 50-sheet output tray.

As we mentioned earlier, the Pixma MG6220 can print onto optical discs that are appropriately surfaced for inkjet printing. You insert your disc for labeling into the printer via the supplied Printable Disc Tray. Like with all consumer models with a disc-printing feature, you print onto one disc at a time. Here, though, you’ll need to pause the process after every 10 printed discs. Canon doesn’t explain why, except to say that the rest stop is needed to keep print quality “at an optimal level.” The manual recommends that after 10 consecutive discs, you close the inner cover and wait three minutes before you resume printing.

Printing Performance

The Pixma MG6220 is reasonably fast with pure-text documents and documents mixing text and graphics, compared with other multifunction inkjet printers we have reviewed.

We started our tests with our Text-Document Test and its 20-page sample document, using the printer's standard-quality mode. The Pixma MG6220 finished the first page of the document in 13.7 seconds and cranked out all 20 pages in 1 minute and 51 seconds (1:51). Those times are about average for inkjet AIOs in this price range, but the Pixma MG6220 couldn't keep up with the $299 Epson Artisan 837, another photo-centric, six-ink-tank AIO, which completed the entire document in just over a minute. That's nearly twice as fast as the Pixma MG6220. But the Artisan 837's score was the exception rather than the rule; it's currently the reigning inkjet champ on this test. And although the Epson costs $100 more than the Pixma MG6220, it's worth noting that all recent Canon Pixma models, whether they cost $100 or $300, turned in nearly identical speeds on this test.

We then moved to our Mixed Text-and-Graphics Document Test and its 10-page test sample. In the standard print-quality mode, the Pixma MG6220 completed the first page in 15.4 seconds and all 10 pages in 1 minute and 42 seconds (1:42). Once again, these times were average for this printer's class, though the Canon printer was again bested by the Epson Artisan 837, which printed all 10 pages about twice as fast.

The Pixma MG6220 pulled out in front of the pack when printing photos. In our Photo-Printing Test, the MG6220 turned in some of the best times we’ve seen from a printer in its price range. With our 8.5x11-inch test photo using the high-quality print mode, the MG6220 completed the job in just 1 minute and 54 seconds (1:54), and it breezed through our 4x6-inch photo in just 47.7 seconds. That compares with 2:52 for the 8.5x11-inch photo and 1:14 for the 4x6-inch photo with the Artisan 837.

Print quality was excellent across the board, particularly when printing color graphics. Text was well-formed, with no stray dots down to 5-point type. The text isn’t laser-printer-quality, but it should be close enough for most purposes. Our mixed text-and-graphics test document was even more impressive, with both photos and business charts looking as good as you can expect on plain paper from an inexpensive inkjet.

Where this printer really excelled, though, was with images printed onto photo paper. The six-color ink system handled the varying colors and skin tones of our test images with remarkable accuracy and clarity. The gray and black cartridges also enhanced our test black-and-white photos. Bear that in mind if artistic photo prints are part of your routine, because it's unusual to see good monochrome photo output in a low-cost AIO.

The quality of printed discs was also very good. Plus, you get some help in composing your disc labels if you don't want to roll your own. If you use the supplied Easy-PhotoPrint EX application, you can add text and graphics to a simulated disc-label and disc-cover template. You don't have to create your own layouts.

All this marvelous print quality does comes at a (literal) price, though: The printing costs on this machine are higher than average. Let's assume the printer is empty. If you purchase a single one of Canon's text-oriented black pigment-ink cartridges, an average page of text will cost you roughly 5.2 cents. You can lower that cost slightly (to 4.8 cents) by buying one of Canon's dual packs of these cartridges. Even at 4.8 cents each, though, those pages of text would cost more than with the Artisan 837, which rings up at 3.3 cents per page.

With color documents that mix text and graphics, the Pixma MG6220 comes in at roughly 15.8 cents per page. That’s high compared with the color per-page costs we’ve seen recently; the average is about 11.5 cents. However, it wasn't much higher than the Artisan 837, which comes in at 14.7 cents per page. (Read more about how we calculate cost per page.)

Scanning & Copying Performance

This model proved to be quite fast for both scanning and copying. In our Scanning Performance Test, it scanned our full test page of text in just 13.7 seconds and an 8.5x11-inch photo in the same amount of time. Those times are faster than not only comparable AIOs, but also much more expensive models.

In our Copying Performance Test, the MG6220 copied a monochrome page of text in 10 seconds, a color page of mixed text-and-graphics in 16.8 seconds, and a 8.5x11-inch photo in 23.6 seconds. Again, these times were faster than not only competing models, but also much pricier units. If copying and scanning are integral to your office, this isn't a bad companion to have.

Even though our test scans were fast to execute, the scan quality was surprisingly good. (You can scan to the PDF or JPG file formats.) We also noted a scanning convenience feature that you don't see with every AIO model: The document cover can rise to a higher position, allowing you to more easily scan or copy pages from books.

Copy quality was also first-rate, with our copies of our pure-text and mixed text-and-graphics test documents looking very close in quality to the originals. Also, photos copied onto premium glossy photo paper were hard to distinguish from the originals, unless you compared them side-by-side.

Conclusion

If you ignore its per-page print costs, the Canon Pixma MG6220 has just about everything else going for it. The print quality is terrific across the board. It’s reasonably fast. And the price is surprisingly low, given that it has some higher-end features, such as disc printing, Wi-Fi connectivity, and automatic duplexing.

As a result, this model presents a dilemma. Would you rather spend less up front, but pay more over time as you use the printer? Or would you rather spend more now in order to pay less in the long run?

That's a calculation only you can make. The Pixma MG6220 is a fine pick if you don’t tend to print a lot of pages, but the quality of the ones that you do matter a lot. Then, the higher per-page costs wouldn’t be as significant.

On the other hand, if you plan to print plenty, the Pixma MG6220 will, over time, be a more expensive choice than competing models. Given the outstanding print quality and added features, this machine could still turn out to be the right choice for you. But you'll have to make that call based on your printing habits and dollar tolerance.